Alex Perelson #3.

100 MPH.

Alex grew up skating vert at the Clairemont YMCA ramp with pros such as Darren Navarrette, Jake Brown, Rune Gilfberg, and others. His first real setup was a Zero with Destructos and Spitfires. His brother Brandon also skates and was sponsored by Welcome at one point. Jake Donnelly and Justin Brock were his favorites on Real in the early 2010s era. He was not a fan of Bucky Lasek's giant concrete backyard bowl. I keep posting Alex's ads because of how much of an influence he is on current vert skaters.

I met up with a friend at the Food Court Skatepark on Wednesday. He brought a buddy along who was ripping up the place and blasted some ridiculous transfers from ramp to ramp. It was sunny and nice so we wasted a late season good weather day indoors, but that wasn't a big deal. I actually had the best day of skateboarding I've had in a long time. I can still do backside 50-50s so that was a relief. I think I'm slowly and cautiously working out of whatever funk I've been in for the last few months.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, December 8th.

I'm so tired of computers and the internet that I'm taking a longer late fall break. Have a good weekend and holiday!

The photos are by Brian Fick.

For the info: Thrasher - May 2011 Volume 31 Number 5

Top shelf: Thrasher - December 2011 Volume 31 Number 12

900: Thrasher - August 2011 Volume 31 Number 8

Rob "Sluggo" Boyce #6.

Flip out.

Sluggo uses his gymnastic skills to do a backflip. This is from the 2010 Rumble in Ramona. The Rumbles were an annual vert event that Darren Navarrette used to host. Rob is riding a Creature board. The red helmet and white shirt are a nice bit of Canadian color.

Thrasher - February 2011 Volume 31 Number 2

Jeff Grosso #11.

"The shenanigans. My coked-out, drugged-out shenanigans. Speed Freaks. I've gotten more feedback from that than any actual skateboarding I've ever done. It's not like I get, 'Dude, that eggplant channel in the Label video at Bakersfield changed my life!' I don't get that. I get, 'Dude, hahah! You were at the forefront of fashion. Dude!' That's my life. That's my contribution to skateboarding."

Jeff waxes poetic on his legacy.

The plan was a week of vert sequences from 2011. I got really close to that unusual goal. Four out of five ain't bad. The skaters had to be on a vert ramp and wearing pads, not at a park or bowl.

For the quote: Thrasher - July 2015 Volume 36 Number 7

Thrasher - February 2011 Volume 31 Number 2

Pierre-Luc Gagnon.

Quebec Nordique.

Pierre-Luc is from Boucherville, Quebec. He rode for Darkstar, Osiris, Gold Wheels, RDS, and Annex Trucks over the years. PLG has had a lot of success on the contest circuit throughout his career, with wins at Tampa, Copenhagen, the X-Games, Dew Tour, and more.

Brian Fick was the photographer.

Thrasher - May 2011 Volume 31 Number 5

Rune Glifberg #7.

Sick Sequential Vert.

Rune does a switch pop shove-it. This trick is absurd. Straight up and down, probably head high, and no hands. He really is a viking warrior.

There was break from the wind and rain for Friday and Saturday so I got to skateboard for a little while. The lights at the park have been adjusted so they turn on at 5:00 PM now. I didn't have much time when I swung by after work, but it's good to see the city is keeping the power on at the skatepark and basketball courts. I intended to go to an indoor park on Saturday. The weather was warmer and dryer than was called for in the forecast so I wound up skateboarding in the driveway. It was fun until a thunderstorm hit. November generally has nice weather, however, this year is coming up short.

Thrasher - June 2011 Volume 31 Number 6

Skulls & Swords.

Powell Peralta started to swing back into what you would expect from them for 2015. The list ad has kind of a Celebrity Tropical Fish feel to it. The next two ads promote a tour of the south and midwest from 2015. The skaters are Charlie Blair, Shane Borland, Jarren Duke, and Eddie “Mighty” Moreno. It's Charlie and Mighty skating the gnarly pool. I didn't want this week to be simply ripping on peculiar advertising strategies so I closed it out with more traditional Powell offerings. It's cool to try different things, but you need to recognize when something probably isn't working.

It's been wet and very windy for the past week so I haven't been skateboarding at all. Usually our Novembers are fairly mellow, but this year has been blustery. I did check out Jamestown Skateboard Products last Saturday. It was nice to get out of the house on a rainy Saturday since I hadn't been to JSP in a little too long.

The team photo is by Terry LaRue. The pool photo is by Deville Nunes.

List: Thrasher - January 2015 Volume 36 Number 1

Go Skate: Thrasher - February 2015 Volume 36 Number 2

Pool: Thrasher - March 2015 Volume 36 Number 3

Reckless Youth.

Wilding out.

These kind of dip into FA or Anti-Hero territory. It's so strange seeing smoking in a Powell Peralta ad. The skaters are Charlie Blair, Shane Borland, and Eddie “Mighty” Moreno. Both Blair and Moreno had pro boards from Powell. Blair was featured often in advertisements. This would've been a better direction to go in as it offers a bit of personality and shows the skaters on the team.

The photos are by Terry LaRue.

Summer: Thrasher - September 2014 Volume 35 Number 9

Pool: Thrasher - December 2014 Volume 35 Number 12

Powell Peralta Boards 2013.

These make a little more sense since they are promoting specific boards. Powell Peralta is never shy about running boring product ads with technical data and that is something you can have a lot of creative fun with. Did Powell even have a team at this time? Obviously, Steve Caballero was still pro. They ran one ad for him with just a board graphic from 2013 - 2014. Otherwise, I'm not sure who else they sponsored. The graphics mostly fit in with Powell's zone, except maybe for the skeleton sparking up a joint. They occupy a weird design space between classic skulls and Skate Mental silliness.

X-Files: Thrasher - June 2013 Volume 34 Number 6

Far Out: Thrasher - August 2013 Volume 34 Number 8

Old Man: Thrasher - September 2013 Volume 34 Number 9

Funsicle: Thrasher - October 2013 Volume 34 Number 10

Objectification.

"Have fun, then quit, and make payments on a Miata."

This was Powell Peralta, not any other company that was willing to take the easy route of using sex to sell skateboards. What was going on over there in 2013 and 2014 that George would approve of this? There's always been kind of subtle fine art edginess to Powell, but they generally kept everything on the safe side. Maybe all the Shorty's and Hubba ads had a subliminal effect on the art direction after a while and they thought they should spice it up. The lady in the Boneite hat could legitimately be a Skate Mental advertisement. It's probably always better to stick to your lane over venturing out to be something that you simply aren't.

Blonde: Thrasher - May 2013 Volume 34 Number 5

Slappys: Thrasher - February 2014 Volume 35 Number 2

Boneite: Thrasher - August 2014 Volume 35 Number 8

Bat: Thrasher - October 2014 Volume 35 Number 10

Kaboom!

We have to talk about Powell Peralta's unusual advertising campaign in 2013 and 2014. They ran a series of abstract ads that do fit somewhere in the realm of their graphic design universe, yet seem completely out of place for the company. It's as if they entered their Skate Mental phase or something. There's a possibility they were taking cues from other skateboard companies such as enjoi, Roger, and even Hubba Wheels in an attempt freshen up their image. I don't see the results as having been overly successful, but they sure were interesting. Interesting maybe isn't always a good thing. I'm not doing this to rip on Powell, I found the image detour fascinating and thought it warranted a look back because it was bizarre.

Thrasher - May 2014 Volume 35 Number 5

Dan Murphy #2.

Scenes from the second story.

Dan is from Boston and relocated to North Carolina for college. He was on Mystery, rode for Foundation, and then went back to Mystery during the 2010s. Nike sponsored his feet for a long time. His part in WTF! was on the shorter side and yet still had plenty of big ollies and gap jumps while the Talking Heads played. He's got a really solid style.

It's been windy and rainy all week so I haven't been able to skateboard. The needlessly early sunsets aren't helping anything either. I keep trying to figure out if the days off are a good thing or a bad thing. The weekend was nice so I did roll around for a while on both Saturday and Sunday.

Jesse Alba has got to be happy the Dodgers won another World Series. I was hoping the Blue Jays could win it all, but that wasn't in the cards this year.

Thrasher - March 2012 Volume 32 Number 3

Nick Merlino #2.

Bone Machine.

If I recall correctly there was an article on Nick in the Skateboard Mag from 2006 or so. He was possibly going to ride for Baker, but he was so stoked to skate that he was rattling off everybody else's tricks before they could whenever they got to a spot. This didn't go over very well and that's how Nick would find a home at Foundation. He turned pro for them in 2011 and stayed with the company until 2021. He skates to The Pixies for his part in WTF! and this switch flip is in there. Nick does a lot of switch and tech gnar, including a perfect opposite footed backside 360 ollie down those big stairs at Rincon. His feet don't even move or leave the board on the trick. It totally makes sense that he would be the guy to blast a straight switch ollie down El Toro in 2018.

RIP Kevin Wilkins.

Thrasher - December 2011 Volume 31 Number 12

Marquis Preston #2.

At home he's a tourist.

I like how Marquis has become an under the radar favorite after his part in Emerica's Stay Gold from 2010. Since my original intent was to showcase the more obscure skaters when I started this blog, I was curious to see who newer generations of skaters would gravitate towards as the years went by. The extent of his coverage was a few photos, ads, interviews, and video parts from 2006 to 2013. Marquis had a shared part with Abdias Rivera and Sierra Fellers in WTF! They used a Gang of Four song for the section. This was the photo that prompted another week of Foundation. The bright colors caught my eye. The F-Troop usually skews darker or runs BW for their ads so it stood out.

Thrasher - October 2011 Volume 31 Number 11

Taylor Smith.

As always, it's not a Foundation week without somebody you've never heard of. Taylor is from Encinitas. He started off skating vert and was even on Termite before moving to Carlsbad. Once in Carlsbad, he started focusing more on street skating. Taylor was getting boards from Plan B until he started riding for Foundation in 2011. Vans was his shoe sponsor. His favorite skater is John Cardiel. For tunes, he likes Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. I think Taylor did turn pro for Foundation and is friends with Riley Hawk's Shep Dawgs crew. This backside lipslide was in Foundation's WTF! video from 2011. He's got a solid part of assorted handrails and gaps set to Sonic Youth.

For the info: Thrasher - November 2011 Volume 31 Number 11

Thrasher - June 2011 Volume 31 Number 6

Corey Duffel #7.

"I heard Jason Dill used to make the dudes watch my video parts on Alien Workshop trips." - The Duff Man.

Corey does a bluntslide for the camera during the Foundation days. They were working on their WTF! video in 2011. It featured Dakota Servold, Ryan Spencer, Dan Murphy, Marquis Preston, Abdias Rivera, Sierra Fellers, Taylor Smith, and Nick Merlino. Dakota was new to the team and Nick would turn pro that year. Of note is that Leticia Bufoni had a few tricks in a montage section tacked onto the end of the video.

The plan was to do a week of Roger since they recently closed up shop. I know they ran a smattering of print ads over the years, but I couldn't find any after some haphazard searching so I went with another week of Foundation. Everyone knows that's how this site works by now. Look for one thing, find something else with more ease. If anybody can pin down the dates for when Roger did run ads, let me know.

For the quote: Thrasher - October 2018 Volume 39 Number 10

Thrasher - May 2011 Volume 31 Number 5